How Do I Know If My Child Needs An Evaluation?

A comprehensive evaluation looks at a child’s cognitive abilities (verbal and visual), academic skills (reading, writing, math), executive functioning, processing, memory (visual and verbal), personality, over-excitabilities, creativity, mood and behavior. Evaluations are often helpful in solving “mysteries” about your child’s learning, behavior, and emotional reactions. The goal is to assess your child’s abilities and determine areas of strength and weakness, providing a “road map” for understanding who your child really is. The evaluation will provide information on how to best support your child at home with parenting and at school with intervention and/or differentiation. It also can explain why the past year was challenging and help your child have a more successful time in the future. Better understanding the “why” of your child’s behavior often provides relief to parents, teachers, and the children themselves.

Typical reasons that parents request an evaluation for their child include:
Is my child gifted?
I think my child is smart, but how smart is he/she?
If my child is so smart, how come he/she is not performing in school?
Why does my child have meltdowns so often?
Why is it so hard for my child to pay attention? Does he/she have ADHD?
Why is my child having so much trouble learning to read, do math, or write?
Why does my child have such a difficult time making and keeping friends?
Why does my child worry so much?